The invention relates to a device for cutting a fiber cable.
A device of this type is disclosed in European publication EP 0 058 743 A1.
The device of the prior art, which has been successfully used in cutting fiber cables, includes a rotationally symmetrical cutter supporting member that sits atop a driven shaft. Mounted on the cutter supporting member are a plurality of radially oriented cutting blades that penetrate an annular channel running around the outer edge of the cutter supporting member. Above the annular channel is a pressing ring that is mounted at such an angle that the pressing ring extends into the annular channel. A fiber cable that is threaded into the annular channel is pressed by the pressing ring against the radially positioned cutting blades in such a way that the fiber cable is cut and the cut fibers are released through the space between the cutting surfaces. Due to the great cutting force acting on the cutting blades, as well as the additional centrifugal forces, the cutting blades are affixed in a cutting receptacle of a holding device, which is mounted on the cutter supporting member. The cutting blades are locked in on both ends. For this reason, those areas on the ends of the cutters that are located outside of the annular channel, which are necessary for locking in the cutters, are unusable. If the cutting blades become dull, all of the cutters must be replaced.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a device for cutting fiber cables in such a way that allows longer use of the cutting surfaces, and thereby significantly extends the life of the cutting surfaces that must be replaced.
The present invention solves this need in the art in that the radial support of the cutting blades in the support provided in the cutter receiving member can be replaced and is optionally formed by an outer ring surrounding the cutting blades or an inner ring enclosing the cutting blades and that the cutting blades are held in the cutter receiving member in such a way that they can be moved radially.
The invention is characterized in that several areas of the cutting blades can be used in cutting without requiring the costly replacement of the cutting blades. For instance, in order to use a first cutting area of the cutting blade, an outer ring is inserted into the cutter receiving member, which encloses the cutters and holds them in a radial inner position relative to the cutter supporting member. As soon as the area of the cutting blades used to cut the fiber cable is dulled, the outer ring in the cutter receiving member is replaced by an inner ring. For this, the cutting blades are simply moved radially toward the outside. The cutting blades are then held in a position that is radially outward relative to the cutter supporting member. The advantage of this is that the utilization life of the cutting blades is doubled.
In order to ensure that the entire area on the cutting blades that is used for cutting has a uniform sharpness, in accordance with one advantageous advancement of the invention the supporting ring is provided with a ring width that is larger than the cutting width acting on the cutting blade. Thus, there is no possibility that the areas of utilization on the cutting blade will overlap.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the supporting device is mounted on the cutter supporting member in such a way that the cutter receiving member is aligned asymmetrically to the annular channel. The annular channel and therefore the effective cutting width of the cutting blade lies outside of the middle of the cutter receiving member. This allows the use of an additional area of utilization on the cutting blade. To this end, the cutting blades that have already been used in two areas are removed from the cutter receiving member and after being turned 180xc2x0 are reinserted. The area of the cutter blade prior to now was unusable due to the asymmetrical mounting, can now be used for cutting the fiber cable without changing the position of the supporting ring.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, when the cutting blades are moved or replaced, there is no immediate risk of injury because the cutting surfaces of the cutting blades are held in a cutter holder. To this end the cutter holder has several slots in which the cutter blades are inserted with their cutting surfaces.